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This Dylan loves the language too

Dylan Rice is 6 foot 1, he says, though his hair, which shoots skyward, makes him closer to 6 foot 3--maybe 6 foot 4. Spotting the singer-songwriter in a crowd is pretty easy.

He stands out for other reasons, though.

For one, there's his voice: sort of like Chris Isaak via Morrissey. The 28-year-old's singing is well-showcased on his debut album, "Wandering Eyes" (Deep Tissue Records). A collection of songs written over the last five years, the album is both coy and confessional, with the tracks balanced by a sense of humor.

"That's my way of making sure the song doesn't become too overwrought," Rice says. "I don't want to be so pretentious and serious. There needs to be some `groundedness' to it."

While his music, which Rice has described as "folk-rock crooning" or "torch-song rock," might turn heads, his background could raise a few eyebrows.

Rice was raised as an Episcopalian in Salt Lake City. He learned to sing as part of his church's choir and performed in high school musicals. After graduating, he enrolled at Northwestern University to study English--a major that would later help him sculpt his lyrics.

"Dylan is willing to challenge himself and come up with a more complicated use of language," says Dave Mendez, who plays lead guitar at some of Rice's live shows. "The lyrics that come out of Dylan have a little more depth than what you usually see."

Also while in college, Rice came out of the closet. Chicago's gay community has embraced the songwriter. But he hopes his songs--not his sexuality--are what eventually establish him.

"When all is said and done, if the music isn't really great, if it's not powerful, if it's not going to make a 75-year-old lady and a 12-year-old girl or boy interested, then no one's going to care about your sexuality, your personal life," he says.

Nonetheless, Rice's personal life gives him lyrical fodder. He says his lost loves belong in song for a simple reason: A broken heart "creates drama."

"Lost love and loneliness speak to so many people," he says. "They're universal themes. It happens to everyone differently. I think that's the greatest mystery, the human heart."